Light and Art: A Trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

During the summer of 2022, I went to Kansas City, MO to go to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. While there were other reasons for the vacation, the museum trip was certainly what I was looking forward to the most. I had never really been to a world-class art museum before, and I also knew that I would have an art history class during my next semester of college. So I was very excited when I got to see paintings from Monet, carvings from Assyria, giant tapestries, and so many more pieces of amazing art. 

  

But something else that I noticed was the various ways of lighting the works of art. They varied from specialized gallery lights, normal overhead ambient light, spotlights, dimmed lights to create the feeling of history, all the way to the simple natural light of an overcast day. Through all of these different lighting types, I noticed how each of them affected the way that the art could be perceived. This became more apparent when I was viewing the photography section of the museum. Though there were overhead lights, the main source of light in the room was the gray afternoon light of a rainy day. 

   

It was also interesting to see the various sources of light within the pictures hanging on the walls, whether it was only the neon lights at twilight, or an open field at high noon. Photography, when broken down to its most basic elements, is light being written on something: "phot" or "phos" is the Greek word for light and "graphos" is the Greek word for written or writing. While something might be written down or drawn in some way to contain a moment or an idea, light will always have an effect on it. I know that it certainly had an effect on me.

Brass Chandelier by Henri Clemens van de Velde

Poinsettia Lamp by Tiffany Studios 

Atmosphere Chromoplastique by Luis Tomasello

(Also pictured: My mother and brother)